The white person’s Black History Month

I am a donor to the human rights and racial justice organization Equal Justice Initiative. EJI’s founder and Executive Director is Bryan Stevenson, author of Just Mercy and one of this year’s MacArthur Foundation fellows. Today I finally opened what I assumed would be a 2021 calendar gift for my support.

It is.

Image from the March 1965 freedom march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. (Steve Schapiro/Corbis via Getty Images)

For each Black figure examined and elevated by white USAns in the month of February, there are eleven and thousands and millions more who were annihilated by white supremacy and exploitative capitalism. This week holds two recent names: Ahmaud Arbery (murdered 2020) and Trayvon Martin (murdered 2012).

Note also that Kentucky refused to ratify the Thirteenth Amendment, which abolished slavery, until just 45 years ago. Current Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell was already involved in politics at that point, and won his first election (as county executive) just a year later.

Thank you, EJI, for this gift. It is more precious than any calendar should be.